CP005: Introduction to Form Controls – an interview with Debra Dalgleish

In the 5th session of Chandoo.org podcast, we are going to demystify form controls.

I am very happy and excited to interview my good friend, fellow Excel MVP, author, blogger and virtual mentor – Debra Dalgleish about this topic.

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What is in this session?

In this session we are going to explore form controls, a powerful feature of Excel that makes your workbooks interactive. Debra is a world famous expert on all topics of Excel (especially data validation, pivot tables & form controls) and this session is very entertaining, informative and practical.

In this podcast, you will learn,

• What are form controls
• When you would use them?
• Example form control – Combo box
• How form controls differ from active-x controls
• How to enable form controls in your Excel?
• Various important form controls
  • Combo box
  • Command Button
  • Radio Button
  • Check box
  • Scroll bar & Spin button
  • List box
• Compatibility of form controls between various version of Excel
• Comparison of form controls with other types of interactive features in Excel
  • Slicers
  • Hyper links
  • VBA
• Debra’s favorite form control tip
• Special bonus & how to obtain it

Go ahead and listen to the show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Links & Resources mentioned in this session:

Debra’s website – Contextures.com

Books mentioned:

• Beginning Pivot Tables in Excel 2007
• Pivot Table Recipe Book

Courses mentioned:

• Excel School online training program
• VBA Classes online training program
• Debra’s User forms training kit

Articles & Discussion on Form controls

• Enabling Developer Toolbar & Form controls in Excel
• Multiple Selection thru Data validation
• Dependent Data Validation (Cascading Data Validation)
• Dependent Data Validation [contextures.com]
• Multi-selection list boxes – how to use them?

Other types of interactive features in Excel

• Introduction to hyperlinks
• Slicers – how to use them – case study
• Making your dashboards & reports interactive – detailed guide

Recommended Resource – Debra’s User Form Training Kit

If you wish to learn more about user forms, form controls and how they can simplify life for your workbook users, then please consider purchasing Debra’s User Form training kit. It is an eBook + Excel workbook combo that works very well and helps you understand these advanced concepts very easily.

Click here to get your copy.

Note: You get 20% discount on this if you buy before 30th of April. Listen to podcast for details.

Note about links: The links to various books & Debra’s training kit are affiliate links. It means when you click on them & purchase, Chandoo.org receives some commission. I recommend these books because I genuinely love them. I would have recommended even if there is no benefit to me.

Transcript of this session:

Download this podcast transcript [PDF]

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Do you use form controls?

I use them in almost all my dashboards. They are really easy to set up and use. I also love slicers, hyperlinks, little bit of VBA and any other type of interactive features Excel supports.

What about you? Do you use form controls? What is your experience like? Please share using comments.